Daily Archives: December 3, 2011

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Christmas isn’t about trees and gifts and lights and mistletoe and Santa Claus, is it? I am going to go out on a limb and say that maybe it is. Shocked? Let me explain.

As human beings, we need reasons for things, we are always asking “why?” (don’t believe me? Hang out with a three year old for a few hours. It is just human nature). And as Christians, we try to “put the real meaning back into the holiday”. On Easter, we shun the Easter bunny and contemplate the Great Sacrifice. On Halloween churches throw “harvest festivals” as alternatives to trick or treating. On Christmas, we pull out our nativity scenes and tell the story of God who became man for us.

I am not saying that all that is bad. We need scheduled reminders so that we don’t take such great things for granted. I get it. I do it.

A friend of mine, a lovely Christian woman, was telling me the other day that she hates how people try to make Christmas all about Jesus. She prefers to celebrate Christmas as our society prescribes – gifts, family, boughs of holly (falalalala), and keep her faith, her Jesus, separate from the festivities. Her point was that we should teach our kids about Jesus all through the year. Perhaps she was weary from fighting that fight – no Santa, some Santa, all Santa (how much Santa in your Christmas is okay, anyway?)

So, I went down the trail of thought that lead me to write this post. And, you know what?

I still want Jesus in my Christmas.

What do you think? Do you need a religious reason to celebrate Christmas?